I was introduced to Chris Owen, Monster Worldwide’s director of global integrated media, in the run up to Response Expo 2016. Chris spoke at that event last year — and at the recently passed Expo last month. Chris was always intrigued by the idea of a cover feature in Response, but he was clear throughout much of last year that the timing simply wasn’t right — the marketing department at Monster was undergoing some shifts. Finally, in early 2017, Chris and Brian Costello, the company’s vice president of performance marketing, stepped forward and said they (and the company) were ready. A perfect fit for our Expo issue cover, Monster has run the gamut of the marketing world during the past two decades, from TV branding to social media. Where are they now? If you missed the link to the story above, here it is once again: Building a Marketing Monster

The fourth and final feature in our “Consumer Journey” series — which set the stage for a six-session track at the Expo — focuses on the post-purchase and advocacy phases. It used to be that when a consumer bought your product or service, marketers hoped the brand experience would be enough to bring them back. Today, with the advent of Amazon‘s immediate deliveries and constant communication, as well as the power of social media to amplify every consumers rants and/or raves, the purchase is merely the midpoint of the consumer journey. Former Response senior editor and long-time key freelancer Nicole Urso Reed nailed the assignment in this series, including highlighting key speakers slated for the Expo. In this issue alone, she caught up with Igor Credali of Kiko USA, Louis Monoyudis of Outer Places, and Michael Weinstein of Allstar Products. In case you skipped the link above: The Total Package

On April 27, the DR Hall of Fame welcomed seven new members as part of its fifth induction class: Michelle Cardinal, Jonathan Congdon, Carl Daikeler, Nancy Lazkani, Tim O’Leary, Lenny Sands, and Rob Woodrooffe. I was honored and thrilled to host both a panel conversation featuring five of those legends and the induction event on the final day of Response Expo. It’s an incredible class showing the breadth of the direct response marketing world. And in this special Q&A feature, you can hear from all seven about their careers and what led them into the Hall of Fame. Just in case you missed it above, here’s story link again: Industry Icons

Our monthly direct response TV and radio media billings return to the long-form DRTV sector for fourth-quarter 2016 results. And while, for the ninth time in 10 years, the story for long-form was the same — an overall decrease for the year — the market has stabilized in 2015 and 2016 after suffering major losses in 2013 and 2014. An 8-percent dip in 4Q results was marked by continuing losses in national cable, as well as dipping pricing in that outlet. For a full look at 4Q 2016 long-form DRTV media billings, click here: Long-Form DRTV Billings Close 2016 With Another Decrease

The cover story with Travelocity and its VP of marketing/general manager Brad Wilson was borne of discussions with Atrium PR leader Adrienne Scordato in late 2015. Atrium represents New York media agency Assembly, which won Travelocity’s business last year. With the help of Travelocity’s on PR insider Keith Nowak, we were able to pull together a very strong story about the marketer that’s celebrating 20 years in business, making it the longest-tenured of all the leading online travel sites. Wilson — a personable and thoughtful interviewee — is a veteran of direct-to-consumer marketing, having served at Match.com and Nutrisystem prior to joining Travelocity. In all, Travelocity’s story of combining online and offline marketing strengths (behind it’s well-known brand presence, the Roaming Gnome) may be the most powerful of our recent features focusing on such multichannel success. If you missed it above, here’s the link: Where the Gnome Roams

The rapid ascent of mobile as a marketing outlet and — perhaps more importantly — a consumer’s preferred viewing and response mechanism has changed the game for both sides of the marketing divide. With consumers spending more time on mobile devices than PCs or laptops — and with mobile commerce growing by leaps and bounds every month — marketers are seeking new ways to reach those consumers how and when they want. Freelancer Pat Cauley tracked down a number of marketers trying to make inroads in the mobile game — and going about it in vastly different ways. If you missed the link above but want to check out the story, click here: The Mobile Monarchy

On April 28, I was privileged to welcome all eight of our 2016 inductees to the DR Hall of Fame in our ceremonies at Response Expo. With six of those inductees on hand, it was an honor to introduce them and share with our attendees the joy and gratitude each of those inductees displayed in their acceptance speeches. As part of the April issue (which was available around the Expo in San Diego), we were able to conduct a roundtable with the seven living inductees. From fond remembrances to insight for the future, the resulting story is definitely worth a look: Worthy Winners

Our monthly direct response TV and radio media billings return to the long-form DRTV space for fourth-quarter 2015 results. For a second consecutive quarter, the long-form market grew — inspiring some hope for 2016 after a long three-year downturn that finally subsided in the middle of last year. The quarter’s 7.7-percent increase (and a 6.6-percent jump for the final six months of the year) helped annual results in the long-form space nearly break even for 2015 as a whole. For a full look at 4Q 2015 long-form DRTV media billings, click here: Long-Form DRTV Billings Build Momentum for 2016

The April issue of Response went live online the day before Response Expo in San Diego last week, with the print version first finding readers’ hands during the successful 3-day event. At the show, our great attendees were greeted with the traditionally outstanding series of networking events, an intense and passionate keynote from entertainment and sports mogul Peter Guber, and two days worth of educational sessions featuring many of the faces and companies you’ve become familiar with in our pages and from these blog posts. This afternoon, as we regroup and recover from our busiest, yet most rewarding, week of the year, I took some time to glance back at how the April issue came together.

In early November, word came across the wire that Wix.com, the cloud-based Web development platform based in Tel Aviv, would become the first TV advertiser built on the tenets of direct response to appear during the broadcast of the Super Bowl in nearly a decade. Within moments of seeing the news, I was reaching out to the company’s head of strategic marketing communications, Eric Mason, to see if Wix would be interested in sharing the story behind this decision. As Mason and I continued to discuss the idea through the end of 2014, it became clear that Wix expected big things from its Super Bowl campaign — not just a TV ad, but a massive omnichannel effort — and Mason had buy-in on the article from the company’s CMO, Omer Shai. The decision became clear: if the Wix campaign went well, it would be a perfect fit for our April (Response Expo) issue to tell the continuing story of online advertisers finding great success in expanding marketing to offline outlets. That decision worked out extremely well for both Wix and Response, as the campaign was a blockbuster for the marketer, and Shai was able to tell a great omnichannel story for our show issue. And, not only that, many of our attendees were lucky enough to hear Mason expound on this story and share more of Wix’s secrets of success last week at the Expo. If you missed the link above, here it is again: Wix’s Winning Game Plan

Omnichannel customer experiences were also the focus of our annual look at the beauty & personal care category. Long one of the direct response world’s biggest verticals, beauty & personal care has also been a leader in welcoming in brand advertisers as part of the growing direct, digital and data-driven marketing universe. As the Web’s influence grows in the space — according to one study, the category enjoyed $4.3 billion in online sales (6.5 percent of its total) in 2014 — the consumer conversation online and in retail outlets becomes more and more important. For a full look at what’s happening in the space — and if you didn’t already click the link above — here’s another chance to read the story: Creating True Customer Experiences

Mercifully, our monthly direct response TV and radio media billings update focuses on fourth-quarter (and, of course, full year) 2014 long-form DRTV results. I say mercifully because long-form media hasn’t seen times this lean since 2002, when the post-9/11 recession took a big bite out of the entire direct response business. With a quarterly drop of $33 million, the 2014 annual total slipped by more than $94 million, dropping below $900 million in total annual spending for the first time in 12 years. The good news, such as it is? The cable marketplace, whose losses were to blame for 2013’s struggles, finally began to bounce back in the last six months of the year. And if the beauty and fitness markets return to normal in 2015, we could see a quick return to form. For a deeper dive into 4Q 2014 long-form DRTV media billings, click here: Long-Form DRTV Billings Wrap Worst Year Since 2002

One last mention of Response Expo (for now) comes in my April Editor’s Note column. Now and then, I like to share with readers the direction of where our publication (and event) are headed and why. With a great cover story like Wix and our ninth annual Expo as key factors this month, it seemed a perfect time to touch base with you all. In case you missed the link to the piece, here it is once again: Putting a Spring in Marketers’ Steps